Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Reconciling Broken Relationships
Genesis 32:9-24, 33:1-16
Ryan Heller
September 26, 2010
I. Examine Prayerfully
Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me…
Genesis 32:11 (NIV)
II. Engage in Restoration
He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift for his brother Esau.
Genesis 32:13 (NIV)
Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
Matthew 5:23-24 (NIV)
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.
II Corinthians 5:18 (NIV)
He instructed the one in the lead: “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?’ then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my Lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.’”
Genesis 32:17-18 (NIV)
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
Luke 19:8 (NIV)
III. Express Humility
He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.
Genesis 33:3 (NIV)
IV. Expect Positive Results
But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And the wept.
Genesis 33:4 (NIV)